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KIEŚLOWSKI’S ARTISTIC REBELLION IN CAMERA BUFF (1979): REFLECTIONS ON THE MORAL ANXIETY CINEMA

Year 2024, , 143 - 162, 09.08.2024
https://doi.org/10.32001/sinecine.1467355

Abstract

This study focuses on Krzysztof Kieślowski’s socio-political commentary and artistic expression in Camera Buff (Amator, 1979). The reason for mapping Kieślowski’s political stance stems from his deep engagement with subtle and profound cinematic expression within the Cinema of Moral Anxiety, where directors skillfully forged artistic avenues as a counter to the dominant narrative and censorship imposed by the socialist realist doctrine. This creative defiance birthed not only a novel approach to filmmaking but also a distinct mode of political assertion in a restrictive environment. Directors within this movement stand as exemplars of conscious opposition to state intervention, fostering unique artistic practices in defiance of oppressive systems. Amidst a political climate marked by censorship and stringent controls, the emergence of the Cinema of Moral Anxiety holds significant political and artistic weight. Within Cinema of Moral Anxiety movement Kieślowski’s Camera Buff reflects his resistance to the dominant political order and its censorship mechanisms. To analyze the distinctive features of Kieślowski’s political cinematic expression and the ways through which he dismantles the system in Camera Buff, this study proceeds in two steps. First, it examines how socialist realism is juxtaposed with the ethos of the Cinema of Moral Anxiety. Second, it examines how Kieślowski employs self-reflexivity and metaphor to reflect the themes of the Cinema of Moral Anxiety in Camera Buff. In both steps, metaphor and self-reflexivity are underlined as potent forms of political stance and expression. This essay concludes by demonstrating how Camera Buff embodies the principles of Moral Anxiety Cinema, offering a critique of societal norms and political oppression through self-reflexive storytelling.

Ethical Statement

I declare that the study titled "Kieślowski’s Artistic Rebellion in Camera Buff (1979): Reflections on the Moral Anxiety Cinema"does not require approval from the ethics committee.

References

  • Belodubrovskaya, M. (2017). Plotlessness: Soviet cinema, socialist realism, and nonclassical storytelling. Film History, 29(3), 169–192.
  • Bickley, D. (1980). The cinema of moral dissent: A report from the Gdańsk Film Festival. Cinéaste, 11(1), 10–15.
  • Brecht, B. (2013). Short description of a new technique of acting which produces an alienation effect. In Brayshaw, T. & Witts, N. (Eds.), The Twentieth-Century Performance Reader (3rd ed.), (pp. 101-112). Routledge. (Original work published 1940).
  • Castle, D. (2015). Between history and fiction: Visualizing contemporary Polish cultural identity. [Honors project, Illinois Wesleyan University].Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1019&context=intstu_honproj
  • Chegodaeva, M. (2003). Mass culture and socialist realism. Russian Studies in History, 42(2), 49-65.
  • Chmielewska, K. (2019). Socialist realism in a new perspective: A proposal of literary history analysis. Studia Litteraria et Historica, 8, 1-23.
  • Coates, P. (2005). The red and the white: The cinema of people’s Poland. Wallflower.
  • Deleuze, D. (1989). Cinema II: The time-image (Tomlinson, H. & Galeta, R., Trans.) University of Minnesota. (Original work published 1985).
  • Haltof, M. (2007). Historical dictionary of Polish cinema. The Scarecrow.
  • Haltof, M. (2019). Polish cinema: A history (2nd ed.). Berghahn Books.
  • Jachimczyk, A. (2017). Polish cinema art: The search for content. Millennium Film Journal, 66, 29-36.
  • Jadzon, M. (2018). To film an inconceivable reality: The manifesto of the young Kieślowski. Images, 24(33), 155-166.
  • Kieślowski, K. (Director). (1968). The Photograph [Tv Documentary]. Poland: Telewizja Polska (TVP).
  • Kieślowski, K. (Director). (1969). From the City of Łódz´[Documentary]. Poland: Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych (WFD).
  • Kieślowski, K. (Director). (1975). Personnel [Film]. Poland: Zespol Filmowy.
  • Kieślowski, K. (Director). (1976). The Scar [Film]. Poland: Artificial Eye- Kino Video.
  • Kieślowski, K. (Director). (1979). Camera Buff [Film]. Poland: Zespol Filmowy, Tor.
  • Krakus, A. (2018). No end in sight: Polish cinema in the late socialist period. University of Pittsburgh.
  • Leppa, D. (2019). Radical communication: Politics after 1968 in/and Polish Cinema [Doctoral thesis,ConcordiaUniversity].Retrievedfromhttps://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/985541/1/Leppla_PhD_F2019.pdf
  • Maron, M. (2013). Head of Medusa, or realism in films of the cinema of moral anxiety. Kwartalnik Filmowy, [Special Issue- Polish Film Scholars on Polish Cinema], 231-256.
  • Mazierska, E. (2015). The ideal and reality of work in the 1970s films of Krzysztof Kieślowski. Studies in Eastern European Cinema, 6(1), 64-81.
  • Metz, C. (2016). Impersonal Enunciation, or the Place of Film (C.Deane & D. Polan, Trans.). Columbia University. (Original work published 1991).
  • Miczka, T. (1997). Krzysztof Kieślowski’s art of film. Kinema 7, 23-45.
  • Pięta, D. (2020). The idea of theology of film based on Krzysztof Kieślowski’s works. In Godawa, M. & Žalec, B. (Eds.), Image and Man (pp. 35-43). Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
  • Santilli, P. C. (2006). Cinema and subjectivity in Krzysztof Kieślowski. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 64(1), 147–156.
  • Stam, R. (1985). Reflexivity in film and literature from Don Quixote to Jean-Luc Godard. UMI Research.
  • Stok, D. (1993). In order to learn: Pedestrian Subway (Przejscie Podziemne) (1973). Interview with Kieślowski. Stok, D. (Ed.), Kieślowski on Kieślowski (pp. 93- 95). Faber and Faber.
  • Troy, E. (2017). Deleuze and Kieślowski: On the cinema of exhaustion. Film-Philosophy, 21(1), 37-59.
  • Veronica, J. (2013). The representation and narrative function of a character’s unconscious in the films of Luis Bunuel, Alfred Hitchcock and Krzysztof Kieslowski. [Doctoral thesis, University of Galway].Retrieved from https://aran.library.nuigalway.ie/handle/10379/3559
  • Wang, L. (2021). How does the arts during the cold war reflect the ideologies of the two superpowers? Proceedings of the International Conference on Public Art and Human Development,638, 301-305. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.220110.059
  • Yacavone, D. (2021). Recursive reflections: Types, modes and forms of cinematic reflexivity. In D. LaRocca (Ed.), Metacinema: The Form and Content of Filmic Reference and Reflexivity, (pp. 85-115). Oxford University.
  • Zanussi, K. (Director). (1977). Camouflage [Film]. Poland: Polish Corporation for Film Production, Przedsiebiorstwo Realizacji Filmów, Zespół Filmowy, Tor.

KIEŚLOWSKI’NIN CAMERA BUFF (1979) FILMINDE SANATSAL DIRENIŞ: AHLAKI KAYGI SINEMASI YANSIMALARI

Year 2024, , 143 - 162, 09.08.2024
https://doi.org/10.32001/sinecine.1467355

Abstract

Bu çalışma, Kieślowski'nin sosyo-politik yorum ve sanatsal ifadesine odaklanarak Camera Buff (1979) filmini analiz etmektedir. Çalışma Ahlaki Kaygı Sineması’nın en önemli yönetmenlerinden olan Kieślowsk’'nin politik duruşundan ve bu çerçevede ortaya koyduğu sinema biçiminin özgün niteliğinden temellenmektedir. Ahlaki Kaygı sineması içinde, yönetmenler baskın anlatıya ve Sosyalist Gerçekçilik doktrini tarafından uygulanan sansüre karşı yeni bir ifade ediş biçimi bulmuşlardır. Bu etkili meydan okuma sadece film yapımına yeni bir yaklaşım getirmekle kalmamış, aynı zamanda kısıtlayıcı mekanizmaları bertaraf ederek belirgin bir politik iddia biçimi ortaya koymuştur. Bu hareket içindeki yönetmenler, baskıcı sistemlere karşı bilinçli bir muhalefetin örnekleri olarak, benzersiz sanatsal uygulamalarını metafor ve özdüşünümsellik ögelerini uygulayarak baskıya karşı gelmişlerdir. Sansür ve sıkı kontrollerle işaretlenmiş bir siyasi iklimde, Ahlaki Kaygı Sineması’nın ortaya çıkışı, Kieślowski'nin mevcut siyasi düzene ve yerleşik sansür mekanizmalarına direnişi göz önüne alındığında önemli politik ve sanatsal ağırlığa sahip olduğu görülmektedir. Bu araştırmada Camera Buff (1979) filminde nasıl bir politik söylemin Ahlaki Kaygı Sineması arka planında şekillendiğini ortaya koymak için, metaforik ve öz-yansıtıcı unsurlar tartışılmaktadır. Kieślowski'nin Camera Buff (1979) filminde sistemi nasıl eleştiridiği ve politik sinematik ifadesinin belirgin özelliklerinin filminde nasıl ortaya çıktığını analiz etmek için, çalışmada iki aşama benimsenmektedir: (a) Sosyalist Gerçekçilik'in Ahlaki Kaygı Sineması ile nasıl bir karşıtlık içinde olduğunun tartışılması (b) Kieślowski’nin öz-düşünümsellik ve metafor kullanarak Ahlaki Kaygı Sineması temalarını Camera Buff (1979) filminde nasıl yansıttığının incelenmesidir. Bu bağlamlarda, bu çalışma metafor ve öz-yansıtmanın etkili bir politik duruş ve ifade biçimi olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır.

Ethical Statement

"Kieślowski’nin Camera Buff (1979) Filminde Sanatsal Direniş: Ahlaki Kaygı Sineması Yansımaları" başlıklı çalışmanın etik kurul izni gerektirmeyen çalışmalar arasında yer aldığın

References

  • Belodubrovskaya, M. (2017). Plotlessness: Soviet cinema, socialist realism, and nonclassical storytelling. Film History, 29(3), 169–192.
  • Bickley, D. (1980). The cinema of moral dissent: A report from the Gdańsk Film Festival. Cinéaste, 11(1), 10–15.
  • Brecht, B. (2013). Short description of a new technique of acting which produces an alienation effect. In Brayshaw, T. & Witts, N. (Eds.), The Twentieth-Century Performance Reader (3rd ed.), (pp. 101-112). Routledge. (Original work published 1940).
  • Castle, D. (2015). Between history and fiction: Visualizing contemporary Polish cultural identity. [Honors project, Illinois Wesleyan University].Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1019&context=intstu_honproj
  • Chegodaeva, M. (2003). Mass culture and socialist realism. Russian Studies in History, 42(2), 49-65.
  • Chmielewska, K. (2019). Socialist realism in a new perspective: A proposal of literary history analysis. Studia Litteraria et Historica, 8, 1-23.
  • Coates, P. (2005). The red and the white: The cinema of people’s Poland. Wallflower.
  • Deleuze, D. (1989). Cinema II: The time-image (Tomlinson, H. & Galeta, R., Trans.) University of Minnesota. (Original work published 1985).
  • Haltof, M. (2007). Historical dictionary of Polish cinema. The Scarecrow.
  • Haltof, M. (2019). Polish cinema: A history (2nd ed.). Berghahn Books.
  • Jachimczyk, A. (2017). Polish cinema art: The search for content. Millennium Film Journal, 66, 29-36.
  • Jadzon, M. (2018). To film an inconceivable reality: The manifesto of the young Kieślowski. Images, 24(33), 155-166.
  • Kieślowski, K. (Director). (1968). The Photograph [Tv Documentary]. Poland: Telewizja Polska (TVP).
  • Kieślowski, K. (Director). (1969). From the City of Łódz´[Documentary]. Poland: Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych (WFD).
  • Kieślowski, K. (Director). (1975). Personnel [Film]. Poland: Zespol Filmowy.
  • Kieślowski, K. (Director). (1976). The Scar [Film]. Poland: Artificial Eye- Kino Video.
  • Kieślowski, K. (Director). (1979). Camera Buff [Film]. Poland: Zespol Filmowy, Tor.
  • Krakus, A. (2018). No end in sight: Polish cinema in the late socialist period. University of Pittsburgh.
  • Leppa, D. (2019). Radical communication: Politics after 1968 in/and Polish Cinema [Doctoral thesis,ConcordiaUniversity].Retrievedfromhttps://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/id/eprint/985541/1/Leppla_PhD_F2019.pdf
  • Maron, M. (2013). Head of Medusa, or realism in films of the cinema of moral anxiety. Kwartalnik Filmowy, [Special Issue- Polish Film Scholars on Polish Cinema], 231-256.
  • Mazierska, E. (2015). The ideal and reality of work in the 1970s films of Krzysztof Kieślowski. Studies in Eastern European Cinema, 6(1), 64-81.
  • Metz, C. (2016). Impersonal Enunciation, or the Place of Film (C.Deane & D. Polan, Trans.). Columbia University. (Original work published 1991).
  • Miczka, T. (1997). Krzysztof Kieślowski’s art of film. Kinema 7, 23-45.
  • Pięta, D. (2020). The idea of theology of film based on Krzysztof Kieślowski’s works. In Godawa, M. & Žalec, B. (Eds.), Image and Man (pp. 35-43). Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
  • Santilli, P. C. (2006). Cinema and subjectivity in Krzysztof Kieślowski. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 64(1), 147–156.
  • Stam, R. (1985). Reflexivity in film and literature from Don Quixote to Jean-Luc Godard. UMI Research.
  • Stok, D. (1993). In order to learn: Pedestrian Subway (Przejscie Podziemne) (1973). Interview with Kieślowski. Stok, D. (Ed.), Kieślowski on Kieślowski (pp. 93- 95). Faber and Faber.
  • Troy, E. (2017). Deleuze and Kieślowski: On the cinema of exhaustion. Film-Philosophy, 21(1), 37-59.
  • Veronica, J. (2013). The representation and narrative function of a character’s unconscious in the films of Luis Bunuel, Alfred Hitchcock and Krzysztof Kieslowski. [Doctoral thesis, University of Galway].Retrieved from https://aran.library.nuigalway.ie/handle/10379/3559
  • Wang, L. (2021). How does the arts during the cold war reflect the ideologies of the two superpowers? Proceedings of the International Conference on Public Art and Human Development,638, 301-305. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.220110.059
  • Yacavone, D. (2021). Recursive reflections: Types, modes and forms of cinematic reflexivity. In D. LaRocca (Ed.), Metacinema: The Form and Content of Filmic Reference and Reflexivity, (pp. 85-115). Oxford University.
  • Zanussi, K. (Director). (1977). Camouflage [Film]. Poland: Polish Corporation for Film Production, Przedsiebiorstwo Realizacji Filmów, Zespół Filmowy, Tor.
There are 32 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Movie Review
Journal Section Features
Authors

Zühre Canay Güven 0000-0002-3715-2089

Publication Date August 9, 2024
Submission Date April 10, 2024
Acceptance Date June 30, 2024
Published in Issue Year 2024

Cite

APA Güven, Z. C. (2024). KIEŚLOWSKI’S ARTISTIC REBELLION IN CAMERA BUFF (1979): REFLECTIONS ON THE MORAL ANXIETY CINEMA. Sinecine: Sinema Araştırmaları Dergisi, 15(1), 143-162. https://doi.org/10.32001/sinecine.1467355

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